Okay, this is the probem with my empeg. Initially, it started freezing upon booting while I had the unit docked in my car. I took the empeg home and plugged it into the ac power cord and received the "no hard disk found contact support" message. After reading the FAQ, and seeing the bit about faulty IDE cables, I took a look at my IDE cable and mine is faulty. One connecter actually comes apart (the bracket came unhinged on one side).

Currently the unit won't boot. All I get is the light on the upper right side of the dimming dimming and brightening. I removed the two 40 gig drives I put into the unit and tried the 12 gig drive that came with the empeg. I still get the same result. I can't connect with the serial cable (or via ethernet, for that
matter) and I didn't try earlier, though i should have.

Is it dead? Is there hope? Any suggestions? Thanks.

Send it to somebody who is good with a soldering iron for repairs.

In the USA, that would be maczrool (another BBS user). In Canada, that would be me. For the best results, Rob Schofield in The Netherlands -- he'll overhaul and update other things at the same time, returning your unit in prime shape all around. His "support" email address is floating around here somewhere..

Cheers

Actually, if the IDE cable is known to be bad, you might want to write to support to get another one. That may be the cause of your problem right there.

Have you tried clamping the cable connectors back together like the FAQ says?

also try..... this thread

Cheers, Sim

Are you only using 1 drive? If so, try putting the drive on the other connector on the cable, just to see. They are not cable select, so cable order will make no difference. Or if the problem is at the board side, try flipping the cable around. Taking care to keep pin 1 on the right side (as in correct side).

I have crimped the cable, and I have connected both drives on both of the connectors, with the cable in its original position and with it flipped. Unless something extraordinary happens, I'll have to get in touch with one of the people Mark Lord listed to send the Rio for repairs.

I am having a problem that sounds very similar to yours. My riocar was working just dandy until I decided to bring it with me on a trip to NYC for the summer. When I arrived I neglected it for a few weeks, (what can I say, I don't drive in NYC) and when I finally tried to boot it up all that happened is the blue light in the front flashes twice and then the link light in the back stays lit for about 15 seconds.
I built my own computer, but I don't even like thinking about soldering or anything else, so should I break the warranty seal and fiddle around with it, or should I send it to one of the kind and gracious members of the bbs to have them work their magic, or should I send it back to support.
Any insights would be greatly appreciated as all of the comments from the active members of the board have been in helping me realize the full potential of this great piece of technology. (you know who you are)

Thanks,

COllin

when I finally tried to boot it up all that happened is the blue light in the front flashes twice and then the link light in the back stays lit for about 15 seconds.

Do you see any text or images on the screen? Does the screen seem to work at all?

If not, then the problem might be something like this. If you were having hard disk trouble, you'd at least see something on the screen.

so should I break the warranty seal and fiddle around with it,

Since the warranties have long since expired on all players, breaking the seals is irrelevant. But if you do, make sure to follow these instructions on how to properly take apart the player.

Hmm, the lights on the front and the back of my player stay lit. Strange. I obtained an IDE cable (not from support) just for testing purposes, and that hasn't solved the problem. I also checked the IDE connector on the board to see if any of the pads were looose; none of them seem to be loose. I checked the VFD to see if the fill nipple is burnt out; it isn't. Could this be a problem with one of the fuses? I've emailed support, but if anyone has any suggestions in the meantime, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.

Hmm, the lights on the front and the back of my player stay lit.

Do you mean the "standby" LED?

One known cause for the standby LED staying lit is if you have wired 12 volt power into the blue amp remote wire. But I don't think that explains your other problems.

You didn't answer my first question which was: Do you see any images on the screen at all?

Another thing worth trying is to apply an upgrade to the player (you will have to remove power and only apply power when the upgrade prompts you to do so). Maybe it's just trashed data in the flash RAM.

Yes, it's the standby LED I'm referring to. I'm not getting any images on the screen. I've tried hyperterminal, and I'm not seeing any boot information. I tried applying an upgrade, as you suggested. When I tried to upgrade, Emplode couldn't find my riocar. Once I applied power to the riocar during the upgrade process the progress bar would continue all the way to the end, and then Emplode would tell me that it couldn't find the player.

Okay, that sounds really hosed, then. Time for an email to support, I think.